In
breaking lululemon news, Sheree Waterson, lululemon's Chief Product Officer, whatever that is, is stepping down, effective April 15th. She's been with the company since 2008. I'll lay equal blame at her feet for lululemon's decline. While cutting back on quality to fatten profits is probably best laid at CEO Christine Day's feet, I'll blame the crappy product mix at Waterson's. Analysts seem baffled by declining same store year over year returns. Want to know one big reason why? Bad product mix, for one. For a company that is known for yoga products it has been putting out fewer and fewer tank designs, particularly those with built in bras, over the last year or so. I believe it's because they offer less profit than cheaper to make bottoms or higher margin outwear. However, I have to believe the typical customer owns at least five times as many tanks as pants. I know I certainly do. The company also badly misjudged its Christmas selling season and dropped a lot of popular gifts - french terry products such as the wraps, Scuba (changed almost beyond recognition and certainly beyond usefulness for cold Canadian winters), dropped french terry sweat pant perennial favorites such as Lulu and Cuddle Up Pants, to name a few items. They also devoted way too much of their product lines to awful color blocked combinations such as Navy/Orange (Inkell/Flare) and Blue/Yellow (Limitless Blue/Clarity Yellow). I hope lululemon hires someone with a much better feel for what their core customer wants and a discerning eye when it comes to deciding which runway trends to incorporate into activewear.
